Empress Dowager Xiao (Shizong)


Empress Dowager Xiao , formally Empress Rouzhen, was an empress dowager of the Khitan Liao dynasty. She was a concubine of Yelü Bei and the mother of Emperor Shizong.

Background

Not much is known about Lady Xiao's background, because she lacked a biography in the History of Liao's biographies for empresses. . Her son with Yelü Bei, Yelü Ruan, was Yelü Bei's oldest son. It is not known whether she bore Yelü Bei any other children, but it is known that she was not the mother of his two youngest sons, Yelü Longxian and Yelü Daoyin .

As empress dowager

In 947, then-Liao emperor Emperor Taizong died, and Yelü Ruan was supported by the Liao chieftains to succeed him. He honored Lady Xiao as empress dowager. He established a headquarters for her family.
In 951, Yelü Bei's cousin Yelü Chage started a coup and assassinated Emperor Shizong. It appeared that Empress Dowager Xiao was also killed in the coup, likely on the same day, because the biography of Emperor Shizong's wife Empress Xiao Sagezhi indicated that Yelü Chage mutinied and "killed the Empress Dowager and the Emperor" while explicitly stating that Empress Xiao Sagezhi was killed the next day. In 1052, Emperor Shizong's great-grandson Emperor Xingzong, when giving greater posthumous honors to Yelü Bei, posthumously honored both her and Yelü Bei's wife with empress titles.